This is how New Year’s Eve went in Switzerland and Germany

The big party is over, the new year has begun. The festivities were not peaceful everywhere. There were numerous accidents and, particularly in Germany, riots. An overview.

Switzerland

Zurich: Big effort on New Year’s Eve magic

The Zurich city police report on a New Year’s Eve in which they had their hands full. Around the lake basin, where there was a ban on private fireworks, there were “various violations” of this. 13 fines were issued because of this. Two young men, a 16-year-old Turkish man and a 19-year-old Syrian, were arrested for aiming fireworks at people.

At midnight, the officers also went to an illegal party at Hardplatz. The event was initially tolerated for reasons of proportionality. When the hard field was cleared early in the morning, units were shot at with fireworks. They would have reacted with rubber shot. According to the police, there are no reports of injuries.

All news in the Watson New Year’s sticker:

St.Gallen: Arm blown away, people shot at with fireworks

The St.Gallen cantonal police also had a lot of work on New Year’s Eve, as their balance sheet shows. For example, a serious incident occurred in Rorschacherberg, where a 36-year-old blew his arm off with homemade fireworks.

In Wattwil SG in Toggenburg, however, unknown people set fire Fireworks in the middle of a New Year’s Eve party. Eight people between the ages of 18 and 22 suffered unspecified injuries. The perpetrators are on the run and the police are looking for witnesses

The Kapo also received ten reports of cases, mostly teenagers or young adults aimed fireworks at people or buildings. In one case, a police officer was shot with a firecracker. Nobody was injured.

Aargau: Burning Lamborghini damages 75 cars

In Zufikon, Aargau, there is a parking garage late on New Year’s Eve a Lamborghini caught fire. 75 other cars were damaged by smoke and soot. According to police, no one was injured.

The underground car park of a residential area on Wygarten was affected by the fire, as the Aargau cantonal police announced on Wednesday. At 10 p.m., residents noticed that smoke was coming from there.

When the fire brigade arrived, the garage was completely filled with smoke, it was said. It turned out that the cause was a burning Lamborghini. The car was completely destroyed by the fire.

The exact amount of property damage cannot yet be estimated, the police wrote. The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

In Laufenburg AG, an apartment was also devastated due to a fire, probably also caused by fireworks. The people in the apartment were able to save themselves in time.

The burning apartment in Laufenburg.Build: cap ag

In other cantons such as Thurgau or Schwyz, the police authorities reported mostly peaceful New Year’s Eve nights. The Schaffhausen police described the night as “usually eventful,” but “fortunately without any serious incidents.”

Deutschland

Since New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne at the latest, the police authorities in some major German cities have been on alert at the end of the year. This year, however, things remained quieter compared to previous years.

As expected, the Berlin police had a lot to do on New Year’s Eve.Bild: keystone

Nevertheless, there were problems this year too. In Berlin, where major riots were feared, 390 people had been arrested by Wednesday morning, most of them for violating explosives or weapons laws, the police said.

13 police officers were injured, one seriously, presumably by an illegal firecracker, as Die Zeit writes.

However, the police drew a positive conclusion regarding some hot spots. There were no “major acts of violence” in some parts of the city where firecracker ban zones were set up as a precautionary measure and crimes were expected. The German weekly newspaper summarized Berlin’s New Year’s Eve 2024 with the title “Not a catastrophe, at least” and described the problems as “quasi normal madness”.

In some Berlin districts, rescue workers were on the move with police protection as a precautionary measure. They were attacked several times this year and were shot at with fireworks, among other things. There are also similar reports from the major cities of Frankfurt, Hamburg and Leipzig.

Meanwhile, there have been hundreds of cases of injuries caused by fireworks across the country. At least five people died because they were handling fireworks and firecrackers, most of which were illegal.

Italy

In the Italian tourist hotspot of Rimini, a man attacked Attacked passers-by with a knife during a New Year’s Eve celebration. At least four people were injured. The police shot the attacker after he ran towards the officers with a knife in his hand after a warning shot. The victims are in the hospital, but their lives are not in danger.

The perpetrator is an Egyptian, but there is no further information about the crime or the attacker’s motive.

The case in detail:

With material from the news agencies SDA and DPA.

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